Germany Meets NATO Defense Spending Target for 2024

By Maria Martinez

BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany has met the NATO alliance’s target to allocate 2% of its gross domestic product (GDP) on defense for 2024, as confirmed by a government spokesperson on Monday. The country is also considering the necessity of increasing its long-term military funding commitments.

According to previous reports from finance ministry sources, Germany achieved the NATO target the previous year as well.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government has significantly increased military spending to provide weapons aid to Kyiv and to modernize its own armed forces. However, the nation is facing budgetary constraints, which presents challenges for future spending.

Details on the expenditures that contributed to meeting the NATO goal will be disclosed in February, as indicated by finance ministry sources.

Following Russia’s invasion, Scholz introduced a concept termed “Zeitenwende” (German for ‘historic turning point’) alongside a €100 billion special fund aimed at modernizing the military.

This special fund is set to expire in 2028, necessitating a total of €80 billion to continue meeting NATO’s defense spending target of 2% of GDP—a significant increase from the proposed €53 billion in the 2025 draft budget.

U.S. president-elect Donald Trump has suggested that NATO members should aim for a 5% GDP defense spending target, a considerable rise from the current aim and a goal that no NATO member state, including the United States, currently achieves.